@techreport{NBERw5586,
 title = "Budget Institutions and Fiscal Performance in Latin America",
 author = "Alberto Alesina and Ricardo Hausmann and Rudolf Hommes and Ernesto Stein",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "5586",
 year = "1996",
 month = "May",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w5586",
 abstract = {In this paper we collect detailed information on the budget institutions of Latin American countries.  We classify these institutions on a `hierarchical'/'collegial' scale, as a function of their transparency and the existence of legislative constraints on the deficit.  We then show that `hierarchical' and transparent procedures have been associated with more fiscal discipline in Latin America in the eighties and early nineties.},
}